Interview: Nicole Swart, co-owner of Rivonia B&B

Rivonia Bed & Breakfast won the 2017 BoHo for best
international hotel with 21-50 guestrooms. BHN caught up with
co-owner Nicole Swart to find out what impact the award has
had.

• What has the win meant for Rivonia Bed &
Breakfast?
"For Rivonia Bed & Breakfast, this has put us on the
international map. We have been able to advertise the win to
potential international guests. These guests make up around 20% of
our clientele and we would like to grow this opportunity."

• What did the win mean to Rivonia Bed &
Breakfast staff?
"When we brought the reward home, all the staff
celebrated! We filled them in on the professionalism
and prestige of the event, and also emphasised that the award
was based on guest feedback - which is all thanks to the
staff. We always perform exceptionally well on guest service,
delivered by everyone in our establishment."

• What's the role of the BoHos in the boutique hotel
sector?
"This is a unique award. The group of properties who can
enter is specific to the smaller establishments and also, the award
is not based on industry votes. Rather, the guests vote. We
look forward to more establishments entering and thereby boosting
the recognition of the award even further."

• What are your plans for RivoniaBed
& Breakfast in the year to come?
"We continue to review guest feedback via GuestRevu on a daily
basis, and do our own analysis, expanding on the analysis presented
by the system. Based on this, our plans are to plug the few slips
we have in parts of our service delivery. We have not taken up all
the suggestions, as some don't meet our strategy or budget, but
where we can, we plan to make our guests even happier. Secondly, we
are pushing the marketing size, using the BoHo Award where
audience appropriate. We expect a slow recovery in the local
market and want to be positioned to take advantage of the upswing
when it happens."

• What advice would you give to hotels considering
entering?
"We would say it's a no-brainer. Enter, and start setting the
benchmark for your establishment. And you may even win!"

Click
here to enter the awards and
here to buy tickets for the Summit and BoHos
ceremony.